By Robbie Neiswanger
Arkansas News Bureau • rneiswanger@arkansasnews.com

FAYETTEVILLE — Arkansas safety Tramain Thomas said the defense is getting tired of hearing about its flaws.

So when the Razorbacks stepped out on the field for their third scrimmage of the spring Friday, the junior said the group wanted to show it is improving.

“We’ve been taking it pretty personal about everybody talking about us being the weak link on the team,” Thomas said. “So we were trying to prove that we are a better defense than what we’re showing.”

Arkansas accomplished the goal during the 135-play scrimmage in Razorback Stadium. A week after being criticized for its poor tackling — among other things — the defense turned in one of its most physical, aggressive and fundamentally sound days this spring.

It may not have been the fourth Saturday in September, when Alabama’s offense is standing on the opposite sideline. But it was a sign of progress. And Arkansas coach Bobby Petrino said it was good to see for a bunch that has been maligned much of the past two seasons.

“We’ve still got a lot of work to do and we’ve got a lot of things to clean up, but I think the thing that showed out there was the physicalness of the scrimmage,” Petrino said. “It was probably the most physical scrimmage that we’ve had. Defense running round making hits, making plays on the ball.”

Arkansas defensive coordinator Willy Robinson said earlier this week the Razorbacks had to improve their tackling and eliminate assignment errors. He tried to get the message across to the group by making them run sprints Tuesday. Then, Arkansas worked on live tackling during a long portion of Wednesday’s workout.

It worked. The pads were popping much more than usual Friday, with players like Thomas, defensive tackle D.D. Jones, safety Anthony Leon and linebacker Terrell Williams delivering a handful of big hits. When one player couldn’t get someone down, others came to help.

“We made a big point of it lately,” Thomas said. “We haven’t been doing it really. We’ve been kind of like one guy to make a tackle. So we’ve been focusing on everybody getting to the ball and making big hits and causing turnovers. I think we accomplished it.”

It wasn’t the best of starts for the group, though.

Arkansas’ three quarterbacks — Tyler Wilson, Nick Petrino and Jacoby Walker — each threw touchdown passes of 30 yards or more during the first four possessions Friday. But it didn’t take long for the defense to regroup, settle in and begin making stops.

The first-team defense stuffed the offense on its next two possessions. The first drive ended with consecutive sacks by Thomas and Lavunce Askew. The second series included a fourth-and-1 play in which Wilson couldn’t get a completion to running back Knile Davis.

The second-team defense then followed with a three-and-out of its own. The group got its own fourth down stop after that, forcing an incomplete pass on fourth-and-goal from the 2-yard line to end a 16-play drive.

“Our whole defense has improved greatly,” receiver Greg Childs said. “I know people try to criticize our corners and things, but our corners got a lot better.

“We have a better D-Line. We have better safeties, linebackers. Just the entire defense got better.”

Petrino said there were a few new wrinkles in the scrimmage that may have helped the defense Friday.

Arkansas have typically opened scrimmages playing in its base scheme, then slowly mixing in blitzes and pressures as it went on. Petrino said the defense had the green light to send pressure right away Friday.

In addition, Arkansas played more zone coverages Friday night after working on it all week. With it, the Razorbacks managed to get their hands on a few passes, collecting two interceptions and several tipped balls.

Linebacker Stephen Barnett and safety Jerry Mitchell each intercepted passes. Linebacker Ryan Powers forced a fumble and recovered it, too, during the scrimmage.

“I thought they competed hard and were flying better to the ball,” Petrino said. “I didn’t think we had the errors on defense that we’ve had in the previous scrimmage as far as assignment errors and guys not being in the right gaps. Therefore it was a much more competitive, much harder day for the offense.”

That’s exactly what Thomas said the Razorbacks’ defense was aiming for Friday.

“I think we had a pretty successful day,” Thomas said.